Mechanical and rheological characteristics of PP/PET blend with maleic anhydrite and jute fibre

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of the effect of mixing natural Jute fibre and Maleic Anhydrite compatibilizer with recycled Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) blends. Recycled plastic has a significant contribution to reduce the environmental issues and encourage the economic benefit. PP and PET polymers are commonly used in the industrial fields, however, they are immiscible and it is difficult to be blended. Two different PP & PET (65/35 and 78/22 v/v %) samples have been blended with 0.5% wt (2 g) Jute fibre and 5% wt (20 g) Maleic-anhydride (PP-g-MAH). The mechanical mixing has been done by using a twin-screw extruder to get pellets of PP/PET/ Jute fibre /Maleic anhydride, which were used to make test samples with injection moulding machine. The comparative result shows that blend of PP/PET with and without any addition of Maleic-anhydride and Jute fibre has enhanced tensile and flexural properties significantly. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers. All rights reserved.